My grandftather and WWII (understatement at it's best)

[azasadny]

My grandfather and I are very close, he's like my father as I never had a father around when I was a kid. I knew Stan was in WWII and when I asked him what he did, he always said something like "I loaded guns" or "I put bombs on planes" and never gave any of us any details. He did insist that I watch "Saving Private Ryan" after I got out of the Navy and commented that it was "very accurate".

Now, the end is near and we are preparing to move him into our house and keep him happy and comfortable for the time he has left and my wife and I were going through papers, etc... and we came across his Army discharge papers. It seems that Stan was awarded 6 bronze stars and his list of campaigns included Normandy, Rhineland, Ardennes, etc...

Wow, my grandfather took part in many campaigns and was awarded 6 bronze stars and he never mentioned any of this to us! When I came back from Desert Storm I told him about my experiences and he listened but never really opened up about his experiences, just told me that "war is horrible" and he wished that nobody would have to go to war any more... My grandfather's generation was so humble and understated! I wish I was half the man he is, he really is special to me and I'm proud as hell to have him as my grandfather.

Here's a picture of Stan in my car this summer when he felt well enough to go for a drive in my car, it was a great day!

[lendaddy]

Very cool, tell Stan thanks from all of us. You are correct, they don't make em like that anymore.

[tabs]

The memories for grandpa are too painfull...he's seen too much death and destruction.... for him to talk about...

[osidak]

Great story. Lost my grandfather a little over 6 years ago. Miss him alot.

How did he feel about sitting in a car that was made in the country he was fighting against?

[azasadny]

Thanks guys! Stan loves my car because he knows how much I enjoy it! He doesn't have any animosity against the Germans and always comments about how well the car takes turns and accelerates. He calls the car "Art's sacred white cow" and laughs every time he says it. He's been telling us more and more about things from his past that he never told us before but he never mentions the war decorations or battles he took part in. Tabs, you may be right!

[Moses]

In the 1940's my father was starving in the Oklahoma dustbowl. At 15 years of age, his parents signed a paper stating his age as 18 so he could join the Marine Corps.

He turned 16 on a transport ship heading to the South Pacific. He was a machine gunner and made the first beach landing on Guadalcanal. After getting malaria and being wounded twice, he was hit by a mortar shell and spent 2 years in the hospital. Like your grandfather, he has very little to say about the war.

Over the years I have known several men who served with my dad. Most of the stories I've heard were told by them.

You're a good man for taking care of your grandfather. We all owe him a debt of gratitude.

[azasadny]

Moses,

Thanks for sharing! After everything my grandfather has done for me (and my brother) anything we can do to make his last days comfortable and enjoyable is nothing! My wife and I decided to add a bedroom and bath on the 1st floor of our house so Stan can move in with us. My grandfather has always taken care of us, so this is just something we need (and want) to do...

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

My grandparents were from Arnhem in the Netherlands. They were some of the people who started the onderduikers, or the underground. If you've seen the movie "A Bridge Too Far" that pretty much summed up what they went through. My grandfather to this day refuses to talk about what went on, but I know from other family members that he and others were essentially fighting the SS with guerilla tactics in the streets, sometimes with nothing more than piano wire and molotov cocktails. I cant imagine what that must have been like...

[nostatic]

my dad joined the Navy underage, got trained as a corpsman, and ended up on a couple different ships in the Pacific. He also did some ground duty at Guadacanal (as I recall...can't remember the name of the destroyer he was on). Since he was tall and fast, he was a "runner". That was the guy that ran out to pick up wounded and toss them on a one-person stretcher then drag them back to a safe location where they could try and fix them (he carried a lot of morphine). He also evidently worked a number of kamikaze attacks. He has *never* sat around and told "war stories". It was only recently (he's 78 now) that one night he mentioned the name of one of the ships he was one. His only comment has been "it wasn't fun." I guess picking up pieces of your friends likely isn't...

[azasadny]

Todd,

Thanks for sharing that, my grandfather is 79 and likely won't make it to 80, so we're spending as much "quality time" together as we can. I let Stan pick the topics, but I'd really like to find out more about stuff he doesn't seem to talk about.

BTW, I was a Corpsman in the USN for 9 years and finished my tour in Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm. Not a fun job but at times it was rewarding.

I wish I played a Zon bass like you, but I'm more of a Rickenbacker 4003 guy!!

[Joeaksa]

One of my best friends years ago was a tail gunner on a B-17. Lost a leg on a mission over Schweinfurt but at least he made it back alive.

The man I got my commercial pilots license training from was a Spitfire pilot in the Battle of Britain. Switched to the USAF in 1942 and was shot down in a P-51 in 1944. Neither would talk about the war much...

I married a German woman in the '80's while living in Germany and after being in the family for years her Grandfather would talk to me a bit about the war, but not a lot. The rest of the family filled in the blanks.

He was a raw recuit and drafted into the Army. Ended up driving a tank in the Stalingrad area and was captured by the Russians. He went in at age 19 and came out age 28 from years in Siberia. Hair turned white and he weighed less than 100 pounds. Do not believe that the Germans will ever attack the Russians again.


They indeed are the "greatest generation" and I am glad to see that we finally have a memorial for them in Washington DC. Also very glad that people like Tom Brokaw brought alot of this to our attention.

JoeA

[mikester]

My grandfather was also in WWII and he simply will not discuss it. My father doesn't even know to what extent he served or in what capacity. All we know is that he joined up mid way through his years at the citidel and when he came back he continued his education there.

I really wonder what he did during those years but he just does not what us to know.

I have learned to respect that.

[joehahn]

AWESOME! You MUST pry what you can from him albeit subtly. Mine didn't like to talk about it too much either and was quite humble about his experiences. He was shot down on mission 16 piloting a B-24 over Luswigshaven and spent the rest of the war in Stalag III of "Great Escape" fame. These men are TREASURES but they don't feel that way and thus you have to prod them a little to get their memories out of them. Before my G-pa died I collected some of his stories about him and his crew. I keep them, with his purple heart in his West Point footlocker which I refinished and have in my basement. I put a note, taped in the inside top to my kids that says "If you guys find this and your Mother and I are gone you must save and preserve it forever, these are the memories of one of the people that shaped our country". I also joined the 2nd Air Division, 8th Air force Heritage Society and the 453rd BG to honor him. I am proud of your Grandfather and all the Vets from all the wars.

joe 68 L

[A Quiet Boom]

All I know of my grandfather's WWII experience is that he was awarded the Purple Heart after a mortar attack on his location. I do know he can be a mean old bastard and crossing him is always a mistake. Over the years I have come to appreciate him and his sacrifices more and more. Lately he has been opening up to me more and more and we plan to scan a bunch of his war time photos into the computer and create a little book of his experiences. It took a lot for me to get him to do this but I explained that his memories are memories that need to be shared. He's 88 now and in good health even to this day. He's always been open with sharing other knowledge and I credit him with my skills as a fabricator. Grandpa taught me to weld at the age of 10, bought me my first Craftsmen tools when I was 6 etc. I firmly believe that the generation between 70-90 is the greatest generation we have ever seen. My boss at work is 74, a Korean War veteran as a forward observer, he went on to get his polymer science degree in the 50's and has over 80 patents to his credit. My lab assistant has know him for years and came to work with us two years ago, she turns 79 next week. Either of them can work most kids into the ground, never complain about aches and pains etc. It's ashame that so many of the younger generation (including mine) have lost the work ethic these people had. I really think that's what makes this country so divided, conservatives miss the values, personal responsibility and work ethic of the greatest generation. I could be wrong.

[bluebullet]

my mothers father served in the pacific during WW2, but he hasnt said much to this day. When I was young and I didnt know any better, I asked him what he did...and he was on a destroyer that hit a Jap mine in the islands somewhere. 3 of his best friends were in the front room at the time when it exploded, which blew the front of the ship clean off (still remained afloat and was towed back to dock for repairs). Never found anything of his 3 friends...not one bit of clothing or anything.

Never said anything after that...and I wont ask him. It brought him to tears saying that.


My dads father went to Europe, right around the end of the war, and he was in one of the platoons that went around liberating the concentration and POW camps. I have seen one picture of him, shaking hands with a frail, very skinny Jewish detainee....who had a very big smile on his face. He showed me that one picture and thats it....and as they say, a picture is worth a 1000 words. He wont say anything either.

[tabs]

From time to time an old friend of my Daddy from his Detroit days gives me a call, he is 85. When he came to LV I went and had lunch with him and his wife. During the war (WW2) he was the Navy Pilot of a Blimp that was used for anti-sub patrols. He was stationed in Carbibean. He usually calls me up and talks about investing in stocks and bonds..

My Daddy was given a 4F deferment during the war due to the fact that his right foot was crushed by a car when he was 10 years old...and as such worked for Packard 7 days a week building the RR Merlin engines that was used in a host of fighter aircraft during the war. he used to tell me that while he was going to college before the war he would put his Chemistry books up on the machine he was running at night to study. My Daddy started work when he was 12 years old and retired when he was 67.

However other family members fought in both major theaters of war...

I had an Uncle that was an aircraft mechanic on the aircraft carriers (one of his pilots was an ACE, I read that in a newspaper article in his scrap book), an uncle who was in the CB's in the Aleutians, an Uncle who was on Guadacanal, and an uncle who was in command of a Landing Craft at D-Day. One of my Daddys Cousins was part of the ground crew of a bomber stationed in England
and another Cousin was in the same PT Boat Squadron as JFK in the Solomon Islands and got to know him quiet well. None of these people ever really said much about their experiences.

In my life I have had 2 friends that served as pilots in the ETO... both have passed away but their experiences as well as memories live on with me.

One of them was a P-51 pilot who flew in the same Group as Chuck Yeager and was a friend of his. He once told me that he was flying over France when he saw the engine fall off of a P-51 and the pilot was killed, and another time his squadron was told to take off in a fog, he said he refused to do so, and that everybody who did take off never came back. He also went on to say that he always wanted to be the wingman, because he never trusted anyone enough to stick to his wing, but that he always stuck t the wing of his flying partner. Later on in life Paul got his PhD from USC and founded the Graduate School of Psychology at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena.

The other friend of mine was a B-24 Pilot who did 10 Missions over Germany before I believe something happened to him..and he was reasigned as a flight training instructor in CA. After my friend passed away at 86, a mutual friend said that she believed a rear gunner of his was killed by a canon shell on that 10th mission. After the war Arch started a Cloth Supply Business which supplied cloth to Sears and JC Pennys when women would still make their own cloths...he and his partner sold out their business in 1970 for $4M. He gave golf lesson at Brookside Park in Pasadena to the day he died.

Another man that I talked to was in the Army in the PTO and saw McArthur land in the Philiphines over and over until the cameras got it right. He also said that he saw a crashed Japanese Bomber that had a Pratte and Whitney engines and Goodyear Tires on it...stamped made in the USA....my guess is that if it is true the Russians were trading Lendlease supplies to the Japanese.

I even once talked to a German who was in one of the Panzer Divisions...his comment was that the German helmets were made by Ford....

In conclusion I would have to say that most of the fathers of the kids I grew up with served in WW2....and grew up during the Depression... These men as my Daddys 85 year old friend told me today " had a double whammy" yet they rose up and perservered. I told him that if his generation had a fault it was to spoil their children (the Boomers) he replied that was because "we didn't want our children to have to go through the same things we did, we wanted it to be easier for them."

[tabs]

Ohh I forgot....Once way back in the day I went down to Los Angeles Street to a Showcase manufacturer, so that I could dispaly my collection of guns....When this little old Jewish man started talking to me about the machine guns he owned. I was really puzzled as to why a complete stranger was telling me about owning something that is a felony to own, let alone WHY he wanted to have those guns. Then i saw the number tattooed to his left forearm and understood...he was in a Concentration Camp and would never let that happen again...

[ejfbmw]

My dad was drafted at age 32 during WW II and served for the duration.
Army Air Corps, Pacific Theater.
He never spoke of the war except to say he was a cook. Most of his circle of friends were all vets. At work or play, this was the toughest bunch of men I have ever had the privelege to meet.
"Greatest Generation"....

[tabs]

As George patton said in his famous speech...."when your bouncing your grandchild on your knee and he asks you what you did in the war Grandpa, you can say you shoveled ***** in Louisana."

But lets not get too misty eyed about these guys...after all their generation brought you Vietnam.. Mr. McNameras war....and Watergate and the bean counters in the auto industry....do I really need to elaborate more....but compared to the ******* boomer anything goes love in generation anybody could be considered to be a tough bunch of men...Now my Grandpa's generation....the WW1 generation those were a bunch of tough SOBs who kicked a$$ and didn't bother to collect names....

[Joeaksa]

He also said that he saw a crashed Japanese Bomber that had a Pratte and Whitney engines and Goodyear Tires on it...stamped made in the USA

Its not well known that in the 1930's we sold the manufacturing rights to the Japanese for Pratt and Whitney aircraft engines, may have also sold them the Wright aircraft engines as well. They had all the blueprints and such needed to make exact copies of the same engines we had at the time.

They then siezed American plants and factories in Japan when the war started and made parts using the same machines, which may have said "made in America" on them.

Not going to comment on your last post much except to say that had it not been for America's involvement in the war we could very well be speaking either German or Japanese right now, and in that case Viet Nam would be a moot point. You might show them a bit more respect to these men as they have seen and done things that no one should ever experience, just to make sure you are free and safe.

JoeA